Baptist parish proposes church along county line

A Southern Baptist parish is proposing to build an 85-foot-tall church in southern Frederick County that would hold 1,160 parishioners for Sunday morning worship.

The Global Mission Church of Greater Washington was scheduled to go before the Frederick County Planning Commission on Wednesday after The Gazette's press time.

Go online to www.gazette.net to read more about the meeting.

Church representatives were set to present plans to build the 138,027-square-foot church on the west side of Interstate 270 at the county's southern border.

The plan also includes 232 parking spaces and a 500-seat dining hall and kitchen. Access to the property would be from Md. Route 109 in Montgomery County.

The church proposes to use the building for bible study, mission training, prayer, sports, bazaars, weddings, funerals, dinners and services on Halloween, Christmas and New Year's, according to its proposal.

Dolores Milmoe of the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase said she is concerned that the size of the church will obstruct views from Sugarloaf Mountain.

"If people are coming up here for the views from the Sugarloaf Mountain, this is not what they want to see," she said. "They're coming up here for the views. This is an insult on the land."

David Severn, a Frederick attorney representing the Global Mission Church, said the church is aware of that concern. "The site is already pretty heavily wooded, and the church does not sit at the highest point of the property," Severn said.

He said church officials floated balloons 85 feet into the air and determined there was no visual impact.